


Have A Nice Day At Work

by nerdqueenenterprise



Series: 100 Ways To Say 'I Love You' [6]
Category: Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fighting, Jus is an awesome friend, M/M, Paul needs a hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-07-01
Packaged: 2019-05-31 20:53:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15127616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerdqueenenterprise/pseuds/nerdqueenenterprise
Summary: After five years of being married, for the first time things aren't puppies and sunshine anymore.





	Have A Nice Day At Work

The front door falls shut a bit harder than usually, and Paul winces. This is probably the fourth day in a row that their sweet morning goodbye kisses have been substituted for harsh words. Hugh usually heads out half an hour before Paul does, so he’s got plenty of time feeling sad for himself before he needs to head to his class.

Jus sits down in front of Paul, and Paul doesn’t even need to lift his eyes from his tea to know how his best friend is looking at him.

“Don’t say it,” he asks quietly.

Jus sighs. “Are you expecting me to watch you suffer in silence?”

“I’m not -”

“Suffering? Yeah, you are. Look. In the seven years you’ve known each other, you guys fought exactly once, and even though it ended with you sitting on my couch bawling your eyes out, and Hugh got so drunk he got a DUI when trying to get home, ultimately what actually happened was just a big misunderstanding because you two are idiots. But this is something else. Fuck, Paul - I - okay, look, I was up late last night and I read this cool article and I wanted to see whether you were still awake because I wanted to show it to you, so I headed over, and you guys weren’t even snuggling. Like… there was some very distinctive curling up on different sides going on. You guys can barely stand being in the same room, you’ve put in a ton more work into editing videos and interacting on twitter, there are no grossly cute smooches happening, and I don’t even see you guys touching! So - what the hell is wrong, and how do I help you fix it?”

Paul groans quietly and stares more intensely into his tea.

“If you say it’s nothing, I’ll kick you until you tell me the truth,” Jus threatens. “Out with it.”

“You know how his work schedule has been a bit of a bitch lately?”

“Yeah, it’s pretty hard to miss.”

“And then he was supposed to go on vacation with Phil from last Friday on, but it fell through?”

“Hard to miss that, too, because you guys fought about that the morning after.”

“Yeah. He’s… he’s not happy, and he’s stressed and doesn’t feel fulfilled anymore, he feels like they’re taking advantage of him, and so forth.”

“Are they?”

Paul scoffs. “Of course they are. But you know Hugh, he’ll never say no, especially not since a lot of the others have kids, so it’s his duty to always help them out.”

“Which makes him angry at you how?”

“I agreed with him.”

Jus throws him an unbelieving look. “And?”

“Nothing, I just agreed with him that they’re taking advantage of him because he doesn’t have kids.”

“And??”

“I... I might’ve said that he needs to be more selfish, and that I miss him too and that I’d like to see him sometimes, and that I’d like to actually, you know, be around him and do stuff with him without him constantly giving me excuses because he’s so exhausted.”

“You... don’t get enough dick so you decided to -”

“No!! No, it’s not that... well, it’s not _just_ that. Yeah, I’d like to get laid sometime again, have some really slow and loving and thoroughly exhausting sex, but...” Paul bites his lips and glances down again. “I also just want to be around him, you know? Take a walk with him, have a coffee date, go swimming, go see a play... I don’t know, that kind of stuff. And he... I told him that, and he said I should’ve known that he works a lot, I shouldn’t have married a doctor then. And... um... well,I said that I thought I’d married a man who loved me.”

“Jesus, Paul.” Jus blows out a heavy breath.

“Am I wrong though?” Paul asks with a hint of desperation. “He frequently does ten, twelve day weeks, or double shifts, or overtime, and then he gets one or two days off, and I get that he doesn’twant to or has the energy to do much then, but... fuck, I just - I didn’t marry him to keep him company while he’s either gone or napping! And at the same time he’s not cutting back on gym time either! Like, when is the last time we spent a lazy afternoon in and made out on the couch! When is the last time we watered the plants together! When is even - when is the last time he kissed me? The last time we talked about something, like actually talked instead of him complaining about work. He sometimes ‘listens’ to me talking, as in ‘is physically present but is literally anywhere else mentally’.”

“Okay, yeah, I get that. But you still shouldn’t have said that! The guy is already stressed and feels put under pressure at work, how did you think he was going to react if he’s put under pressure at home too!”

“I... I didn’t think about -”

“Damn right you didn’t. Jesus, Paul. Look - I get where you’re coming from. He’s a grown man, he should be able to work out his own decision and all that. But... he - he’s already unhappy as it is, and he doesn’t need you to attack him too. But also... I get you, Paul, I really do.”

“So what am I supposed to do?”

“Talk to him!”

“You say that like - you say that like - like I’m - like - I can’t just talk to him!”

“He’s your _husband_!”

Paul hangs his head. “Jus, you know I’m shit at that stuff.”

“Oh yeah, I know. Listen. I’m not saying you’re wrong to demand to spend time with him too. Because you’re not. He’s in his thirties, and he should be able to work out his own priorities and maybe overcome his inability to say no.”

“So what am I supposed to do?”

“He needs your support, Paul. I get you’re upset, and you have the right to be, but he needs your support right now. And first of all, that means you need to talk to him. Tell him you’re sorry, tell him you love him very much, tell him you support him, and then talk about whether Hugh is even with you about working less, or whether that’s maybe exactly what he doesn’t want, and then talk about how you can meet somewhere in the middle with that and your own desires and expectations of your relationship. You don’t have to compromise in a relationship, but you do have to collaborate, and that starts with talking about it.”

“Ugh, I feel like a fucking idiot for you having to explain that to me.”

“You’re not an idiot. You just function differently.”

Paul groans and lies down on the table.

“Jus?”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t wanna talk to him.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?!”

“I just... I don’t - he probably already hates me.”

“No, he doesn’t!”

“Yeah he does. He’s angry at me.”

It’s Jus’ time to groan. 

“He’s angry at you because he loves you, and you hurt him.”

“He’s hurting me too!”

“Yeah, because you love him too, but man, you need to talk about this! I mean... that kind of stuff can get super ugly. I don’t want to scare you, but I also spent a lot of time listening to you salivating over the guy, then stressing about going on dates with him, _then_ stressing about proposing to him, and... you two are meant for each other. You love each other so much. Don’t let this ruin it. Also,” He throws a look at the kitchen clock. “You need to go to work.”

“What do I tell him? Like, to start that talk.”

“Tell him you want to talk to him, because you feel like you both ended up misunderstanding each other. Also... maybe first tell him that you want to talk about this, and set up a specific time for it, where you have enough time to actually finish that discussion.”

“Right. Right. Thank you.”

 

 

 

 

The next time Paul even sees Hugh is a day later, stumbling over each other in the bathroom. Hugh seems to have just come back from his morning run, and it almost feels like he was trying to avoid Paul by getting up and through his morning routine early enough so he doesn’t see Paul.

“Um, hi,” Paul says softly, flickering his eyes up to meet Hugh’s, then dropping them again.

“Hi,” Hugh answers stiffly.

Paul fidgets.

Hugh spits out the toothpaste, washes his mouth and puts the brush back in its holder. His movements are jerky and stiff.

Paul inhales a bit shakily, trying to calm his nerves. He should not be this scared of talking to his husband.

“Hugh, I was wondering,” he begins, feeling Hugh’s dark eyes on him in the mirror. “Um, I wanted to talk to you. Not like - now, or anything, but like... when we both have time. Because... the last time didn’t end that well, and, and I’m sorry. About that. So I’d like to talk sometime.”

Hugh puts his towel back on the rack. 

“Yeah, sure,” he answers lightly.

It sounds fake. Paul stares at the floor and feels tears burn in his eyes.

There’s a hand on his stomach and a very fleeting kiss being pressed to his cheek, and then Hugh is out the door. 

Paul’s lower lip trembles.

“Have a nice day at work,” he whispers.

A minute later, the front door snaps shut as well.

The first hot tear spills down his cheek, and he decides to go back to bed.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm.... sorry?  
> welp
> 
> but um, also, a short rant: i...........'ve seen a lot of paul being the cause for any sort of dysfunctionality in their relationship, because he's autistic (coded) (my paul is autistic, canon paul is just autistic coded, hmu for like... DetailsTM), and the thing is always "paul doesn't communicate", "paul neglects hugh but hugh Loves Him Anyways" or some stuff like that that basically makes hugh this amazingly warm caring character and paul nothing but the recipient (in fact, it sometimes looks like paul has no lovable qualities other than intelligence (and whether that's lovable is to be doubted) and uhhh misrepresentation of autistic (coded) people bad). me no likey. me also study medicine and me big, big stress, which can cause you to lash out.  
> also as amazing and functional and beautiful a relationship is... conflicts happen
> 
> i also enjoy exploring jus' and paul's friendship here and just... giving jus more of a speaking role!
> 
> also this'll be resolved in the next fic or the one after that and then it's back to sickening fluff :P


End file.
